November 22, 2009, Raleigh,
NC: An admirable performance
of the Adagio and the Allegro of Franz Joseph Haydn's Symphony
No. 104 in D (1795) and the composer's famous Missa St.Bernard
von Offida in B Flat ("Heiligmesse") brought obvious
pleasure to the audience in Stewart Theatre, as the NC
State University massed choirs
and the orchestra showed off their considerable skills. Nathan
Leaf, the young conductor of the choirs, and Randolph Foy, veteran
conductor of the
Raleigh Civic Chamber
Orchestra, combined their skills to coax fine
singing and playing from both organizations in this concert.

The opening work on the program, the first movement of
Haydn's masterful Symphony 104, one of the best of the series
of symphonies he composed in London in the last decade of the eighteenth
century, revealed clearly the compositional techniques characteristic
of Haydn's late orchestral works. In every way, Foy got an excellent
performance from his players. But to be offered only a fragment
of a major orchestral work by one of the world's magnificent
composers is probably the most frustrating performance an audience
can hear. I understand — I think — why Foy had
to settle for presenting a fragment of this work when everyone in the
house was
ready to hear the complete work. But to understand this short-cut
is no guarantee that the performance will please the audience, if my
own negative reactions to Foy's choices suggest their displeasure
with only a fourth of a symphony when they expected the complete work.

The Missa St. Bernard von Offida, known most
frequently as the "Heiligmesse," was as satisfying to listeners
as the abbreviated Symphony 104 was not. Leaf admirably kept his choral
forces under control despite the fact that he was conducting the large
NC State Chorale as well as the Women's Choir and the Men's
Choir. Leaf knew exactly what musical responses he wanted from every
singer on the stage. His exacting conducting technique made clear to
all singers what they were required to do, resulting in effective choral
dynamics, rich vocal color, beauty of tone, great levels of musical
excitement, and precise diction and intonation, all of which made it
clear to his audience that he was a choral conductor who knew what
to ask for and usually got it. Especially admirable was his ability
to insist on balance between sections, although the tenors, smallest
in number of any group on the stage, were quite often overpowered by
all the other sections.

The orchestra members too were aware of the need for
balance between themselves and the singers. As a result, no group
of instrumentalists covered up the vocal efforts of the sections, especially
the tenors, who could easily have been buried under some overly-excited
instrumentalists' power.

A brief review of the musical skills revealed by the
choruses in each major section of this mass makes clear their consistent
success. The Kyrie resounded with the vocal purity and
quietness in many phrases as well as the brilliance which is quite
obvious in the bigger, more powerful sections. In the highly-polyphonic
Gloria, the
most obviously effective tonal qualities were the spirit and the emotional
power which are very dominant throughout the movement. However, the
diction was not as clearly articulated in the phrases of this movement
as it was in the Kyrie. The Credo was
sung with great drama and satisfying power but also included frequent
shadings of darkness and a complementary slow tempo when the death
of Christ is fully portrayed. The fast-moving lines of the Sanctus
demanded and received brilliant vocal treatment, but revealed a major
flaw: the sopranos' descending phrases, which should be very
clear, with each note distinct from the others, tended to be markedly
smeared. The
final movement, the Agnus Dei, is magnificently brilliant
music in which Haydn uses every compositional technique available to
him to bring the Mass to a satisfying, exciting close. The choruses,
obviously fully aware of the composer's intentions and encouraged
by their conductor's effort to draw from them all the musical
strength they had left, ended the Mass with voices filled with well-controlled
emotion.

The soloists for this performance — Jessica Bowen,
soprano, Jennifer Seiger, alto, Wade Henderson, tenor, and David
Faircloth, bass — had well-trained, well-projected voices, and
excellent ranges. Each singer, particularly Jennifer Bowen, had a warm
powerful
voice which easily reached every corner of the concert hall. But
tenor Henderson, with his huge operatic voice, could overpower the
three other soloists, and most of the time did so. Occasionally
Leaf would rearrange the soloists to compensate for the size of Henderson's
voice, but usually this did not work. Perhaps the biggest problem was
the closeness of the soloists to the orchestra; most of the time the
quartet was almost in the front-row players' laps.

Despite these criticisms, I must conclude with a statement
of approval for all the singers and instrumentalists involved in this
fine performance, especially the Missa St. Bernard von Offida.
The conductors, Leaf and Foy, did their jobs with great professionalism.
The singers and performers were obviously well trained, were good musicians,
understood the music fully and cooperated with their conductors. As
a result, everyone in the hall left fully contented.